We know TES are participating in paid in-school work prior to graduation, but what does it look like?

Description

The research focus or problem: Teacher Education Students (TES) can apply for Conditional Accreditation to teach with the National Education Standards Authority (NESA) when they are 75% completed with a undergraduate degree or 50% completed with a graduate degree. Amidst the chronic teaching staffing shortage across Australia, policy makers are looking to fast-track TES into the classroom as a stop gap response. This can be seen in responses such as the wider support for the Waiver of Appendix B program, growing support for shortened degrees and the implementation of programs such as Teach for Australia in NSW.

Whilst the ongoing teacher supply issue was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, attrition rates remain high in teaching with many leaving the profession within the first five years (Marz and Keltchermans, 2020) with many citing burnout, mental health, being over worked and underpaid (Australian Unions, 2023). A recent report highlighted that of 4000 teachers surveyed across Australia, 46.8% are considering leaving the profession in the next twelve months (Black Dog Institute, 2023). In response, a state education jurisdiction has established, in partnership with a selection of metropolitan and regional universities a transition to teaching program to support experienced industry professionals to retrain as teachers of mathematics, science or technological and applied studies. Program participants are given a training allowance, a completion bonus, and a guaranteed position in a state public school upon completion of study. Furthermore, participants are provided with a paraprofessional role within schools during their study to assist in their transition.

As partners in the transition to teaching program, we wish to investigate what in-school work TES are participating in prior to graduation, what impact it has on their transition and the differences between participating in a structured, supported program versus non-supported paid in-school work.

Conceptual framework informing the research: Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) (2000) and its associate referent model will be used to identify and analyse the various factors which enable and constrain pre-service and beginning teachers in their transition to in-service practice. The theory is well suited to apprehend the complexity of development (Tudge 2008), especially pre-service and beginning teachers, as Brofenbrenner’s (2000) central tenet focussed on what human beings may become tomorrow. It helps to conceptualise the interconnectedness and intersectionality of the relationships between a person, their microsystem and environment in which they live (Fearnley 2020). Individuals, and in this instance pre-service and beginning teachers, do not develop in isolation but in relation to their family, work, school, community and society at large. The core of the approach is a set of multiple layers, represented as nested structures; the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem and macrosystem. The individual sits in the centre of the microsystem, which is surrounded by the mesosystem. The mesosystem represents the relationships between the microsystems such as school or family; it has direct impact and influence on the microsystem. In schools, the microsystem could be defined as the beginning teacher and the mesosystem is the school in which they work.

Research methods including ethics: Our research seeks to contribute to the field of scholarship by investigating the insights in TES experiences of their formation of teacher identity through engaging in paid work in-schools prior to graduation. Furthermore, the data collection activities seek to capture the changing perceptions and attitudes of pre-service and beginning teachers' sense of professional self and feelings towards workloads in order to mitigate against high turnover and attrition rates in the teaching profession.

Data collection instruments employed in this qualitative Ethics approved research study (Project ID 12475) include surveys and interviews. Participants have been recruited from Australian universities delivering accredited teaching degrees and in-school mentors will be asked to be interviewed.

Key insights or findings and implications: Key insights reported from the pilot of the survey indicate a wide range of activities, time spent working and experiences in-school prior to graduation.

Period	10 Jul 2024
Event title	2024 ATEA Conference: Myth-Busting: Confronting Debates and Creative Design in and for Initial Teacher Education
Event type	Conference
Location	Newcastle, Australia, New South WalesShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National